Educating A New Wave of Chefs in Sustainable Cuisine: Community Colleges Take the Lead

Narration: With Green Acre Radio this is Martha Baskin. Come into the kitchen. The smells are irresistible and there’s plenty of room. Students at the Seattle Culinary Academy are learning the art of sustainable cooking in the newly remodeled ‘One World Kitchen’. Today’s menu features the ‘Ying Yang Healing Menu’. Local products with a pan-Asian feel, says lead chef Karyn Jurgenson. “If you’re feeling yang which is sort of restless and hyper you would steer toward eating some of the yin foods that we provide on the menu and if you’re feeling yin, cold and tired, then you would eat some of the yang foods, like Ginger Chicken Consomme.” Or a yin option, Carrot, Orange and Sweet Onion “Ryesotto”. These healing dishes are served on site in the ‘One World Dining Room’ on the campus of Seattle Central Community College.

The Seattle Culinary Academy is the first of its kind nationwide. Again chef and instructor Karyn Jurgenson: “We call it sustainable food system practices. I wanted the students to have an idea that they’re responsible for the product that they get in the door, that there’s implications in how they spend their dollars and that they have influence over the food system.” The subject is complicated and ever-changing. What are the tangible things one can do to reduce waste? How can kitchens ensure their products are healthy? What about certified versus non-certified ingredients? Food politics are also taught – “The Farm Bill” and GMO or genetically modified organisms. “What’s the controversy around GMO products? What are the ethical issues, the access issues, the intellectual property issues? Some, explains Jurgensen, say natural seeds shouldn’t be manipulated. “Some feel like it might feed the world, so we have a discussion from all sides of that. What it means and how it will impact the future and is the idea sustainable?”

What isn’t questioned is making sure the food in this socially just, economically and ecologically sustainable kitchen is mouth watering good. Student Vicky Briggs prepares a yang entrée, Salmon in Ginger Grapefruit Glaze served with a Red Quinoa Leek Bundle. “It’s a pretty simple preparation. It’s seared in the pan. Finished in the oven and then a little grapefruit ginger glaze is applied and the heat allows that to become a little sticky and adhere to the salmon.” Briggs left an engineering job to attend the culinary academy. She reaches for another pan to sauté the leeks. “Always start with a hot pan. Into this one we’ll add a little bit of butter.” More like a full cube. “Makes it taste good.” Then she takes the salmon out of the oven. “Lift up the salmon just to get glaze on that seared side. That’s what we’re looking for, just a nice little bit of browing.”

Like many kitchens the Culinary Academy relies heavily on canola oil. 80% is genetically modified. Recently they decided to only use organic. Again chef and instructor Karyn Jurgensen: “That is a new thing. We’ve been talking about it for some time but its been hard to get to that spot.” As a college non-profit, the Culinary Academy needs to keep a close watch on costs and organic is expensive. Still, they now use Spectrum Organics Canola and justify the price by cutting down on fried foods. “Then for sautéing we use olive oil or safflower oil which are not genetically modified.”

In the final quarter of the program, students become Chefs of the Day and create a five course meal from start to finish. Mark Canu is showcasing ingredients from the Skagit Valley and Sammish Bay where he grew up. “We have heirloom bean casoncelli which is a filled pasta with grilled bitter greens from the beet soup. And then our gooey duck salad. Then sunchoked frites with oven dried tomatoes, sunchoke puree and beef demiglace for the beef cheeks.” Top it off with a dessert made from roasted quince and goat cheese ice cream, and you can’t imagine Canu or anyone else with these skills having trouble finding work after graduating. Chef and instructor Karen Jurgenson says opportunities for those trained in sustainable cooking are on the rise. “I feel like chefs around the nation are getting more engaged. And these students already speak the language. They know what’s in season. They know the resources to find something local. Customers are demanding it.” She steps aside. Customers have arrived and are ordering from the ‘Yin Yang Healing Menu’. “Order in. One beef tenderloin. One salom. Two citrus salads.” It’s traditional cooking with a return to local roots where everything is used, from leek tops to lamb quarters, for today’s meal and the one around the corner. -0-
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